If you’re just starting a business or if you own a small business, odds are you’re going to assume that you don’t need a lawyer. Thinking that the size of your business prevents you from facing problems a lawyer could help fix is a huge mistake.
Lawyers are necessary to help with a variety of problems. Even problems that you can handle become much easier to tackle with a small business lawyer present.
If you aren’t convinced as to why you need a lawyer, then keep reading. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how useful a lawyer will be to your small business.
1. Small Business Lawyers Prevent Errors
Small business owners are only human. They make mistakes, whether by not thinking something through or just not thinking far enough ahead.
One large mistake hiring an attorney can prevent is trouble with negotiating. Often, small business owners don’t realize just how many things need to be negotiated. Proper negotiation requires creativity and an ability to view all of the angles, both things that lawyers are capable of.
Lawyers can also help set up protections for a small business owner’s intellectual property. Intellectual property is one of the most important things to protect. A business attorney will help make sure that intellectual property has been properly assigned, protecting your business as a result.
Having a lawyer on retainer specifically for your small business will help prevent any of these mistakes from happening.
2. Employee Issues and Help
No matter how few or how many employees you have, you’re going to run into some problems with them at some point. The reasons you might have trouble with employees can vary from something in their hiring contract to an employee getting injured at your place of business.
Besides this, employment law is constantly changing and evolving. You want to be able to protect both your employees and your business, and the best way to do that is by hiring an attorney.
There are other smaller things you can do, such as setting clear expectations for the employee when you first hire them. You can also have an employee handbook for them to stick to.
A lawyer can help make sure that you’re complying with all laws and regulations. They can also help go over the various contracts that bind employer and employee so that you understand them better.
3. Debt Collection
When you run a small business, people are going to try and avoid paying you. It’s unfortunate, but it is an inevitability of life. When this happens, you don’t want to be trying to figure out how to get your money back on your own.
This is the point where you need to look at your lawyer options. Hiring an attorney is the best way to ensure that everything will go your way and save you the headache of trying to figure it all out.
A business attorney can help make sure that debt collection goes smoothly and you get all of the money that is owed to you.
4. Taxes and Tax Issues
Making sense out of and complying with tax laws is one of the most complicated parts of running a business. There are many regulations to keep in mind, documents that you have to keep on hand, and all of the complications that come with actually filing your business taxes.
Your lawyer can help you with each step of the process.
A good business attorney can show you how to set up a comprehensive record-keeping system so that you never lose track of anything. They can also help find credits and deductions that apply to your business or help you structure your business so that credits and deductions will apply. This will greatly relieve any of the tax burden placed on your business.
With the proper lawyer for your small business, you can focus entirely on running your business. Your lawyer will make taxes something so easy to finish that you don’t even have to worry about them.
5. Contracts
Part of being involved in running a small business includes handling contracts. As a business, you’ll have all kinds of contracts with all kinds of people. You may even have multiple contracts with one person, which can get complicated pretty quickly.
Businesses are quick to sign contracts without reviewing them. They are also quick to act on something in a contract without consulting anyone. Both of these are grave mistakes.
Before you ever sign a contract, you should consider hiring an attorney to go over it. They will point out common problems that you or the other party may have missed. It’s also important to consult them before taking action, to ensure that you’re still upholding part of the contract.
Your attorney can prevent things like work being handed off to a third party you do not want to work with. They can also prevent going to court by working the need for a mediator into your contracts.
6. Environmental Concerns
The environment factors heavily into both small business and local government concerns. A small business is affected by both the environment and by environmental laws.
Hiring a business attorney or having one on retainer is a great way to help you. A good business attorney will help you to understand the obligations you are under as a business to avoid further damaging the environment. This helps protect your business from being held liable for anything.
A small business lawyer can also advise you on what to do to protect yourself and your employees from anything environmentally harmful. This typically means knowing what equipment to have for certain situations in order to minimize any harm to you or your employee.
7. Insurance
One major issue you’ll have to start thinking about as you start or run your business is potential liability concerns. You are responsible for ensuring that the product or service you sell is given at the best quality possible. This means that you’ll need insurance.
A business attorney can help you to choose the right insurance company, as well as the coverage you need. Having the right insurance will protect you from all sorts of things that could cause you trouble otherwise.
8. Better Budgeting
With how important it is to hire an attorney, it’s important to point out that having an attorney on retainer is an even smarter idea. Having an attorney on retainer means that you pay them a set amount per month. While you may not need them every month, you have them when you need them.
Not only is this smart to protect yourself, it’s a smart idea for your business from a financial standpoint. You can never tell just when you’re going to need an attorney. Having a lawyer on retainer means that you don’t need to worry about having the funds to hire one, as you’ll have one on standby.
Budgeting for a lawyer will also help you figure out how much you have on hand for other expenses, making it a win all around.
9. Business Growth
You’ve heard about all of the ways that having a lawyer on hand can help you when it comes to the law. You may not have realized this, but having an attorney on retainer will also help you to grow your business and increase the amount of profit you make.
There are many reasons why having a business attorney on hand helps to grow your business. The biggest reason is that having an attorney to help you understand the laws that come with running a business will save you from a lot of trouble.
Avoiding being in trouble with the law means you can avoid having to pay any fines or extra fees that you would have without one.
The advice that business attorneys give, apart from laws, is incredibly valuable. Having an attorney in your corner is the best thing that you can possibly do for your business.
Get a Consultation
Now that you’ve learned all about how a small business lawyer can help you with your business, you’re ready to look into getting a lawyer for your own business!
We can give you one final piece of advice – sign up for a consultation with us! We offer a variety of services, from personal to professional. Whatever your needs might be, it’s likely we’ll be able to offer help.
Contact us here to get started on the consultation process today!